The maxim, good things come to those who wait, applies at the Sosam Tea House in To Kwa Wan, where some dishes take up to four hours to prepare. But it's worth investing the time: all the food is homemade, including the pasta and dumplings, as is a selection of fruit wines.

'Food should have love and care put into it,' says Erica So Ngai-wing, who, with her husband, Patrick Poom Cherk-wing, runs the restaurant. So is a former food writer and Poom used to photograph dishes. Their enthusiasm has taken them as far as Italy, where they found inspiration for treats such as black truffle pasta (HK$108) and slow-baked chicken with homemade fruit wine (HK$338).

Poom's mother is also on-hand to provide homely Cantonese dishes such as noodles with dracontomelon and old-style meat sauce (HK$68) and shrimp dumplings with homemade jelly (HK$88).

Sosam Tea House is open from noon to 10.30pm, Tuesday to Sunday. It's at 1 Maidstone Road, To Kwa Wan, tel: 2714 3299.